Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has cleared doubts on the state of readiness of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium to host the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival billed to kickoff on 20th March in Benin City.
Speaking after an on the spot assessment visit to the stadium in Benin, he declared; “I am impressed with what I have seen at the Samuel Ogbemudia Sports Complex, it shows clearly that consistent work has been going on here.
“There has been huge commitment on the part of his Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Philip Shaibu to ensure that this place is completed in a record time.
“I have seen progress and I can say this stadium is about 85% or 90% ready for the National Sports Festival,” he declared.
Governor Obaseki also reassured that the stadium would be ready by the first week of March.
It would be recalled that the last edition of the National Sports Festival was held in Abuja, with Delta State emerging as the overall winner.
Meanwhile, the minister had hailed the qualification of the female national basketball team, D, Tigress for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.